Okay, I feel I understood the meaning of maybe 10% of what's been posted previously here, and even that 10% is somewhat confusing because it's Ash's semi-claim, which is a very interesting but also difficult piece to the puzzle. Glad we have one on the board already, I feel it's a much better start than pure RVS with no substance that can stall for days in worst cases.
It's so fun to be playing with ash again!
As for the claim, I don't know, my natural first reaction is to buy it until evidence to the contrary surfaces, but also be on the lookout for such evidence. There is always just one UB, so if ash is scum, he is basically saying he is willing to trade 1:1 with the backup (at best), which just seems like a terrible deal for scum. UB is definitely a strong role, but it won't have any utility until someone with a PR goes down (knock on wood), and even after he could inherit something completely useless (if the role was 1-shot and the shot is already used up), so it's not like game-changingly strong, or even close to that.
It seems a little suicidal for ash to do this as town but not the UB, as I would assume most people as the real UB would simply counterclaim ash immediately, putting town in a horrible situation for no gain whatsoever (as far as I can tell, anyways). I got to believe ash would realize this, and probably wouldn't want to proceed with such a plan.
So, as I don't think ash would do this as town if he wasn't the UB, I think if there is another UB out there, they should claim because ash is then likely just scum with a crazy vision, which would seem extremely far-fetched, but ash if anyone is willing to go down for his team if he feels its the best course of action.
But, probably, ash is just the UB, and wanted to get us going with a claim. Which seems fine to me, having a IC is pretty fun, and this comes with potential additional powers if they make it to later in the game.